RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIESIII (648-58), who appointed two aristocratic Persians, both named
George, as metropolitan bishops of Nasibin and perath.
Another Persian of aristocratic origin, a monk at the monastery of
Beth 'Abhe and also named George, was appointed metropolitan of
Adiabene. His elevation to the office of catholicos in 659 was the
signal for the ecclesiastical revolt of his bishops, and George of perath
brought accusations against the icatholicos before the Muslim govern-
ment in about 661.^81 It is not surprising, then, to find the synod which
met under George in 676 declaring that ecclesiastical procedures such
as ordination were not to conform to secular practices but to canon
law. The purpose was to make it unnecessary for candidates to seek
either "the support of the powers of the age in order to demand choice
posts or admission to ordination or [the support of] the assembly of
the faithful, and become thus worthy of being entirely rejected. "82 This
was only a futile attempt to reverse the prevailing state of affairs, as
is indicated by the judgment of YOQ.annan bar Penkaye that the lack
of persecution during the reign of Mu'iiwiya had proved disastrous
for the Nestorians. Bishops were involved in public affairs, anticanonic
quarrels, and civil tribunals, and they contested the rule among them-
selves, while other members of the clergy "only understood that they
were men and that they governed men. "83
Nestorian involvement in the closing phase of the second civil war
in Iraq brought the first real intervention of the Islamic state into their
internal affairs and completed the process by which the Nestorians
themselves caused their Muslim rulers to apply Sasanian methods
towards them. Although the catholicos I;I"nanlsho' (68~93) at Mada'in
was under rebel rule, first that of al-Mukhtar at Kufa from 685 until
687 and then that of Mu~'ab ibn az-Zubayr from 687 until 690, he
seems to have been neutral. He directed church affairs by making ad
hoc arrangements and appointments in lower Iraq and through his
legal correspondence. Whether or not l:Ienanlsho' sided with the reb-
els, one of his bishops, YOQ.annan of Dasen, the metropolitan of Na-'
sibin, took advantage of the situation to acquire the office of catholicos
for himself. The Marwanls defeated Mu~'ab in 690 and from 690
until 693 Bishr ibn Marwan, a brother of the caliph 'Abd al-Malik,
was governor of Kufa. Nasibin remained in rebel hands and the bribe
that YOQ.annan of Dasen is said to have made to Bishr to secure the
81 Chabot, Synodicon, p. 480; Thomas of Margha, Governors, I, 81-86; Il, 181-88.
82 Chabot, Synodicon, pp. 216,220,482,485.
83 Mingana, Sources, pp. 176-78.